“Experts say even if people still missed the red flags or are unaware and found themselves scammed and trafficked, it is still not too late. They advised victims to reach out, create a ruckus, and draw attention to get the authorities involved, be it in Malaysia or Thailand.

Tana said victims should not give up.

“If you arrive in this town, Mae Sot, and you’re from another nation and you’re on a tourist visa being promised a job. Run. For. Your. Life.

Read the full article here“That’s the moment that they can still get out. That’s the moment … they’ve still got some freedom, that’s the moment they can still make the exit. But the moment they get on that boat (to Myanmar), they’re lost,” he said.” — Bernama, The Borneo Post Read the full article here

“The way that they choose countries to traffic (victims), it isn’t based on the Asian region, it’s based on English education. It’s English education and Chinese language. They want Chinese translation and English (writers) to run online scams. Malaysians have strong English compared to other countries like Thailand, which has none,” said Judah Tana, founder and international executive officer of Australian charity Global Advance Projects.” - BERNAMA, BFokus Read the full article here

Many of those working these cyberscam operations are lured from other countries with promises of legitimate jobs before being forced to work in slave-like conditions. Escapees have reported being beaten and tortured.

Judah Tana is the director of Global Advance Projects, a Thailand-based NGO which has aided hundreds of trafficking victims who have escaped from scam compounds in Myanmar.

Mr Tana said the crime syndicates had made AI research and development a priority since "day one" and were willing to go to great lengths to get the most advanced technology.

He said some scam compounds in Myanmar were using advanced face-swapping tech.

"It's not everywhere, but it is in some of the larger ones for sure, and they're just always moving to increase and get better," he told the ABC.

Among the people he had helped was a computer engineer whose sole job was AI development for the syndicates, he said.

Mr Tana and his associated partners aided her after she managed to slip away, despite being accompanied by security guards, during a visit to a coffee shop in northern Myanmar.

"She said [their technology] was more advanced than anything she had seen in the world, anything she had ever studied," he said.

Mr Tana said to motivate the woman, compound managers had brought people into the room and beaten them in front of her.

"It's a very, very, very twisted thing. But it's not an isolated case," he said.

ABC NEWS Australia Read the full article here